Malaysia to send container full of plastic waste back to US

The container, which was shipped from Los Angeles, California on March 14, will be returned under restrictions that came into force in January

Meanwhile, a World Bank report found more than 75 per cent of recyclable plastics in Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines are left to waste

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Malaysian Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin and other officials inspect a container containing plastic waste last year. Photo: AFP

Published: 1:50pm, 24 Mar 2021Updated: 5:24pm, 24 Mar 2021

Malaysia will return a container of plastic trash en route from the United States as it violates new UN rules governing hazardous waste, the environment ministry said on Wednesday, one of the first signs of the regulations being enforced.

Two years ago, more than 180 countries agreed to ban hard-to-recycle plastic waste trade in an attempt to stop rich countries dumping trash in the developing world, where it often ends up polluting the local environment and the ocean.

The new restrictions, which come under the Basel Convention, a United Nations treaty that polices the trade in hazardous waste, came into force in January.

Signatory countries can now only trade plastic waste if it meets certain low-contamination criteria – which means it is clean, sorted and easy-to-recycle – or if the exporting country gets prior consent from the importing country.

A container filled with plastic waste is seen in Port Klang, Malaysia, in 2019. Photo: AP

Mohamad Khalil Zaiyany Sumiran, the environment ministry’s spokesman, said a shipment was on its way from the US that authorities have said did not meet that criteria or have prior approval to be imported into Malaysia.

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